Running Home
by StarfireFowl
Summary: Caradoc knows how this ends. He's gone, she finds someone else. That's all he wants for her. CaradocFutureMrs.Diggory


A/N: Part of the series I'm writing with SunlitDays to Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High. This is "I've Got All This Ringing in My Ear and None on my Finger." Based on characters from the rpg "Stuckinthe70's" over on livejournal.

* * *

He hadn't exactly come to terms with his decision yet. Dumbledore had asked him to do this mission. Both knew the outcome wouldn't be good. Few broke into Malfoy Manor and came out alive. Caradoc knew that and had spent the past few weeks studying the blueprints while his girlfriend had slept. She was the reason he was having second thoughts. Ella was so happy being in his life and he didn't want to wreck that just yet.

She was what made him reconsider going through with this. They'd been together for a little over a year. Ella was the one who changed him, the one that made him never want to date another again. She was much too good for him. He'd joined the Order to prove that he could be good enough for her and ended up loving all the missions and the fighting. It became his passion – he was fighting Death Eaters to protect her.

Caradoc only had a few more minutes left before he was supposed to sneak into the Manor. It was a little before midnight now. He'd let Ella go out to dinner with her old roommates from Hogwarts, giving himself time to study his plan once more and write her a goodbye letter. He could have been selfish and kept her home that night, but he didn't want to make things any harder.

The letter was going to destroy her once she read it. If he really died on this mission, she was never going to be able to read it without crying hysterically. It even made him cry, something he hadn't done since he had temporarily broken up with Ella back in school. The note asked her to not hope for a miracle with him. He told her he was sorry for taking the mission, but he had her to protect and he'd do that, even if he died.

Caradoc whispered the rest of the letter out loud, "I want you to get married and have the wedding you always wanted but I could never give you. Find someone and make yourself ridiculously happy. Go marry that stupid Diggory fellow, I won't mind, honest. There's not much of a chance for my survival, so don't sit around waiting. If I make it, I'll be running home to you, I promise. Go out there and live, my princess. You're beautiful, you know, and I am always going to love you. Your prince, Caradoc."

He heard the familiar snap of apparation and knew she was home. Quickly, he folded the letter onto his desk. He then turned to get one last good look at his girl. Thinking that this would be the last time he ever saw her winter blue eyes or her delicate face made him want to cry again.

"What are you looking at over there?" Ella asked. He felt his heart breaking. He would miss her voice too.

"Just a letter for you to read when I'm gone." The words cut through his heart. She had no idea what his words really meant and that killed him.

"Oh, thank you." She smiled at him and he found himself running to her and throwing his arms around her. She began to whisper into his ear. "When do you leave?"

"I need to go now." He replied as dread filled his body. This was it – their last goodbye. He paused to collect himself before speaking again, taking in one last whiff of her scent. "Get sleep, my princess, and stay happy for me."

"I will, my prince. Good luck." She then kissed him sweetly on the mouth. He wanted nothing more than to stay there forever. Instead, he ended it after a few brilliant seconds, taking his faded coat off of his chair.

"Goodbye, my princess. I – I love you." He hoped with all he had that she didn't hear his stutter and how broken his voice was. She didn't need to know what was about to happen. She'd try and talk him out of this.

"I love you too." She smiled as he walked out the door for the very last time.

He reached Malfoy Manor without crying, a feat that surprised him. Caradoc was also surprised by how much of the mission he completed without getting caught. He managed to find Lucius's study stuffed full of information on Death Eaters and torture equipment. Taking the books on the Death Eaters with him, he apparated them to the random cottage Dumbledore told him to put them in and then returned to take photographs of the study. It was after the third picture of the room that he was ambushed.

* * *

"I'm so glad you took me to that movie. I never knew muggle movies could be so entertaining." Ella giggled, taking Caradoc's hand. It was their first date together since leaving Hogwarts. Caradoc saw that as his perfect opportunity to introduce her to something he loved about Muggles. That and he wanted to take her back to his apartment afterwards.

"Of course they are," he smirked. They were lucky enough to be alone in the theatre and had kissed through most of the film, at his reassurance that you were supposed to do that there. "So you'd like to see my apartment then?"

"Yes! I have to see if it's good enough for me to live in with you." That caught him off guard. He'd been considering proposing to her all day so that she'd move in with him, but she was volunteering to without a ring. He guessed he wouldn't have to propose just yet then.

They both were caught off guard when they sky suddenly opened up and dumped buckets of rain on them. Caradoc knew that she hated getting caught in storms so he decided to act on it. Pulling a giggling Ella behind him, he ran the last two blocks to his flat. She kissed him once they reached his doorstep. Somehow he'd turned two things she hated – rain and running – and turned them into her newest favorite memory.

* * *

The Ministry sent Amos Diggory to break the news to Ella. She collapsed into his arms before he finished the sentence. Amos held her tightly as she sobbed about how she was now so alone. He told her she wasn't and that he would protect her.

What struck Ella later was the fact that the very man Caradoc was jealous of became the one to help her, just as Caradoc said he would. She read the note aloud in Amos's presence once realizing that the letter Caradoc had been working on was a goodbye note. Amos held her then too.

It took another year for her to finally do what the letter instructed. She married Amos – happily too. Unlike Caradoc, Amos would never disappear on her. Then again, Amos never did anything to replace her favorite memory of running home in the rain with her first love.

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A/N: Reviews are love.


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